Fats, Vitamins and Minerals

1. The Myth of the Artist Genius

Despite the myth of the individual creative genius propagated by Ruskin and others, creative invention (in any field) is largely a process of adaptation and adoption -tempered by the wisdom and folly of the “zeitgeist” (the spirit of the times).

Vincent van Gogh, is now the hero of the many Dutch tourists who visit his museum. The myth of his genius is no doubt invaluable for the rich investors who have acquired his paintings which have been promoted by the collaborative efforts of the international commercial poster industry and the local tourist industry -backed up by professional art historians. There are many vested interests involved in the canonization of any artist. However, for van Gogh’s contemporaries, Vincent was almost completely unknown and sir Alma Tadema was the contemporary Dutch genius who was the talk of the town in fashionable London and the developing international art market. Ironically, in later years there was even an exhibition of the, by then, largely forgotten painter of historical scenes, Alma Tadema, in the thriving museum dedicated to the life and work of Vincent van Gogh.

This nice little history of a fickle (and perhaps misled) public, and the lonely, unloved and misunderstood artist could of course be used to justify the myth of the artist genius. Except that behindit lies yet another story (as there almost always is). Although the Amsterdam “van Gogh Museum” bears his name -it is not dedicated exclusively to his work: It also covers the way he was influenced by other artists too. One of these was the Japanese artist Hokusai -who gained his fame when European artists discovered his wood cuts which were then being used as wrapping paper for imported Japanese porcelain.

Indeed, in the context of Intellectual Property -Hokusai is another interesting figure -because apparently his most famous work “The Wave” was done after his retirement -and after he had already sold the commercial right to use his name. Apparently, Hokusai’s son’s profligate way of life bankrupted his father and forced him to start earning money again -this time without the commercial advantage of his own name: His most famous print -which has inspired generations of western artists (presumably as well as Japanese) was published under the name of “The artist formerly known as Hokusai”….

One wonders how many people visiting Holland because it is the land of tulips and van Gogh’s Sunflowers are aware of the artistic debt Vincent owed to a Japanese artist who was at one time almost as obscure as he himself had once been.

The history of art is full of such stories -where the myth of the “genius” of the artist can only be maintained by obscuring the role of their mentors plus the context which not only gave birth to the work but also created the conditions that made it so popular.

2. The Economic Argument:

So is economic advantage the prime motivator for creative thinking?

If creative development is indeed the result of a nexus of exchange, adaptation and adoption -then commercial interests may actually slow down true innovation.

A Dutch poet once wrote that “People think that genius is a gift from God -but in fact, it is an escape strategy”. This seems fairly consistent with the fact that many truly “successful” people, were (like van Gogh) a “failure” before they became successful (often in non-financial terms). Apparently, Einstein was also a poor scholar -and perhaps it was his experience of deviance from the accepted intellectual norm that caused him to write that it takes ten years to do the work, ten years to make the public understand it -and another ten years to persuade the public they misunderstood it the first time. So it seems that truly “innovative” ideas are more likely to come from those who struggle to understand contemporary ideas -rather than from those who are simply able to express them perfectly -and are thus not forced into exploring new approaches which are more logically comprehensible to the abhorrent nit-picker….

Clearly, within a system of “adaptation and adoption”-the adoption (by society -or by a commercial exploiter) is at least as important as the original innovative adaptation. The danger is that within an entirely market driven economy -the “adoptor” may get all the financial rewards while the original adaptor may be forgotten. This may not sound important from a financial perspective -but within a truly innovative process, it might be fatal: Simply because the financial imbalance encourages the wrong kind of development. Overprotective music and software industries (created by large globalised commercial semi-monopoloies) may well already be in decline -which is why they feel the need to vigorously chase after “pirates” simply because they themselves do not understand the delicate nature of the creative process.

3 The Alternatives:

a. A Basic Re-evaluation:

Presumably “IP piracy” is (on one level) a solution to a problem: It provides goods and services to those who could otherwise not afford them. It also provides employment for “anti-piracy” teams paid for by those who believe that they are “losing money” because of the piracy. The question that is apparently not asked at this point is: How many of the “illegal” sales would have taken place if the illegal copies had not been available?

So, if on the creative side, there is an apparent lack of appreciation of the importance of both the “inventive” and the “exploitative” aspects of the creative process -so is there in economics apparently a lack of understanding of the importance of distinguishing between purely hypothetical monetary problems and problems of real people in the real world that have not yet been monetized in terms of profit and loss accounts. If one looks at daily life as experienced by “normal” people -then one sees that “creativity” is generally driven by the need to solve practical problems and not simply to make a profit in some abstract (post-Bretton Woods) monetary system. Indeed, if one looks at those actually pursuing people for illegally selling “their” intellectual property -one will not usually find the original inventor chasing lost income -but on will find a corporation who has often “acquired” these property rights simply by buying up another company who had “bought” the rights from somebody else. In fact, the “monetization process” generally seems to prefer to create problems -in order to sell solutions (which to be economically effective must create more problems) rather than actually “solve” anything.

As a result of these considerations, it would appear that IPR’s are not a fundamental problem -but a symptom of more fundamental failures in the conceptualisation of our global economic system.

Historically, the concept of a “free market” was seen by Adams (the recognised “father” of the idea -who presumably did not patent the idea) as an unbiased way of making complex decisions (with regard to prices) in a way that benefited the “common good”. However, the fundamental simplicity of the original idea has subsequently been perverted in several ways by later developments -including the pernicious ideas of Thomas Malthus, who preached that aiding poverty only increased poverty (because the poor continue to have children that they can’t afford) -plus the rise of the commercial corporations which undermine the basically “individual” nature of the “free” market. Malthusian concepts (based on exploiting scarcity) are particularly misleading in the context of industrial and post-industrial society -where the problem of finding markets for a plethora of cheaply produced goods is perhaps even more pressing than genuine problems of scarcity (except perhaps with regard to basic essentials such as fresh food, clean air and unpolluted water).

As part of the necessary re-conceptualisation process -we may need to consider (at least) the following points:

• Universalism:

One of the major problems in western culture is the absolute belief in a universal objective reality. This religiously held belief prevents any understanding of the fact that a diversity of environments, with different living conditions, different problems and different solutions are probably essential to preserve a complex conceptually creative dialogue -in exactly the same way that complex interactions between physical environments are also proving essential to the preservation of human life. Monoculture -either biological or conceptual -is a form of suicide. Imposing a uniform system of globalised market forces coupled to international sanctions for any deviation -increasingly seems to be a disastrous form of commercial monoculture.

The international art market is unfortunately no exception -and is therefore a serious threat to a conceptual ecology involving creative interactions between varieties of local cosmologies.

The conceptual eco-system involving local variations in worldviews and practices needs to be preserved and encouraged to develop where possible -preferably outside the conventional global economic monoculture.

• Monetization:

Since Bretton Woods, money has become a virtual commodity -subject to the laws of supply and demand which it is supposed to control via a “free market”…. Not only are the prices of goods and services determined by the price that somebody is prepared (or forced) to pay -the value of the money used to pay for these goods and services are equally subject to the same volatile (and perhaps arbitrary controllable) forces…. In practice, as demonstrated by the way commercial systems often focus on commercially exploiting the creative adoptor, often to the cost of the original innovator -”market values” often distort real practical values: Humans cannot live without food -and yet the prices paid to farmers are often deliberately distorted so they become low -while producers of unnecessary artificially manipulated luxury goods remain high.

The art education system has long lost any serious set of criteria for the teaching of art -and this has been exploited by art critics, art historians, galleries and collectors to provide a completely opaque system of creating and promoting commercial values -which have no practical value -although they may have an ideological basis, insofar as they promote fantasy lifestyles and commercially exploitable value systems.

In the meantime -the advertising industry, backed by academic scientific research -has developed a coherent system of social indoctrination which creates artificial demand for products that are often at best useless -and at worse a health hazard. As a result, even poor countries where many people are suffering the effects of malnutrition are simultaneously dealing with the problems of obesity, alcoholism, and polluted air and water supplies -and/or drug addiction.

What kind of economy is it where doctors re-train as nurses in order to emigrate -while farmers starve and others need to work abroad to earn money for a foreign lifestyle based on imported goods produced by cheap foreign labour?

In a commercial system, a popular artist need not be a good artist. The “art market”, based on the sale of commodified concepts and aesthetics, has become an integral part of a propaganda system which propagates the conversion of viable “cultural” behaviour patterns based on local conditions into (temporary) generators of commercially exploitable lifestyle products.

There needs to be a re-focusing away from artificial monetary values -in an effort to rediscover the functional role of concepts and materials within a living culture. Local cultural groups need to ask how local (and global) practices encourage or inhibit the well being of local individuals and groups.

• Individualism:

Perhaps the biggest paradox in western globalised culture is the role of the individual: The myth of the lonely artist genius -and the expressive importance of the individual as artist -discourages collective effort on a social level -while the globalised economy relies increasingly on the collective effort in the form of gigantic multi-national companies that are beyond direct national control.

Culture -as a locally shared set of practices based on a common world view -primarily operating as a social problem-solving system -becomes fragmented and destroyed so that the “individual” becomes isolated and vulnerable to commercial exploitation.

Collective protection against collective commercial violence is labeled as subversive -and is fought against globally -on an ideological and a practical level through international trade agreements and military action if required.

The commodification of individual intellectual property rights incorporates the artist into an economic system that destroys the very diversity that creative individuals fundamentally need to provide a wide nexus of both problems and potential solutions -that can be adapted and adopted in a diverse range of experimental and exploratory contexts.

Paradoxically, a herd of identical creatures is the only way to give a group of individuals an equal chance of survival against a common predator -while operating in a cooperative group enables the group to exploit individual differences for the common good.

The myth of the individual creative genius undermines the shared intelligence of the group -and destroys the collective defense against external exploitation by predators.

The fact that economists do not know how to commodify and price something should not be cause for it to be rejected as “worthless”. The potential value of communal effort within various social systems need to be evaluated to see how they actually compare with the value of collective effort within the commercial corporate structure.

• Accounting and Accountability:

A major problem with the perverted “free market” as a result of its mutation by global corporations -is the lack of coherence between accounting and accountability: Simply put -the profit and loss accounts of the various commercial actors have no relationship with the actual gains and losses experienced by the majority of people who (are foreced to) participate in the system.

In artistic terms -the profits made by selling a painting by (for example) van Gogh do not generally benefit the causes espoused by the artist -and usually do nothing to alleviate the potential suffering of similar individuals.

On a cultural level -the destruction of indigenous culture by global exploitation in terms of lifestyle products -does very little that actually helps to preserve the cultural context that was essential to the creation of the commercially exploited product. The culture/tourist industry is rapidly turning into a totally destructive form of conceptual mining. Some way of linking financial accounting to actual (non-financial) social profit and loss accounts need to be made.

Perhaps a wider range of “social accounting and financing” systems needs to be developed -expanding and developing existing systems such as:

-Collective (Monastic/Tribal/Academic) Systems: Where collective riches are used to provide work and living conditions intended to alleviate the individual poverty of those working for the collective good.

-Chaining Systems: Where those that profit from using a set of skills pay a percentage of their earnings to the source of those skills -which is then passed on to those who contributed to the previous level…. i.e. the ex-student pays the master -who pays his master -and so on, down the chain…

-Social Capitalism: Where commercial investments are not made by individuals -but by social investment systems (such as pension funds, or micro financing systems, etc). Such systems might need greater social control by the shareholders over the kind of projects funded.

b. Culture, Choice and Democracy:

The idea of democracy is obviously a farce -without real choice for those involved.

Originally, the idea of a free market was to provide an unbiased solution for prices within a supply and demand system involving the essential commodities of daily life. Before Malthus, the free market was not seen as being inconsistent with the common good. The idea of the “free market” was actually intended to reduce centralised and perhaps arbitrary human decision making from the system -by leaving the market to find the essential balance between the various possible decisions.

However, theories based on the idea of a free market should not be considered valid in a context where large scale commercial corporatism have been coupled to mass-production, mass-marketing, mass-media and a single globalised economic system.

On the other hand -the failure of large scale centralized planning systems in both the Soviet Union and Maoist China would not suggest that such systems are a good alternative to a corrupted free market system.

If large scale centralism (and a perverted free market) both seem to be unable to create a humanised balance between production, distribution and profit -then perhaps the other possibility would be to increase local diversity based on a truly democratic system of local choice -relevant to the material and cultural needs of those involved. The European middle-ages -with their patchwork of local guild controlled economics and experimental variety of local government, commercial and church systems was theoretically a period of stasis -and yet in practice, it seems to have been a period of rapid evolution -which has continued to evolve into the current globalised system. The free market may have been a part of this evolution -but it may not have been an essential part of it. As global diversity continues to decline under monolithic global consumerism -we may well discover that the local diversity found in the Middle Ages may well be a greater creative force than the free market, which gradually came to destroy that diversity.

If we remove the hidden hand of the illusory “free market”-then we re-introduce the possibility of human choice in the design and implementation of the socio-economic system. True, thereis probably no objective basis for a universally satisfactory system -but the impossibility of finding a universal solution may well be the most valuable aspect. The lack of universality, allows the possibility of (or indeed forces the need for) a wide variation in choice over the fundamental principles which underlie any local system.

Interestingly enough, the kind of choices that need to be made -how “individual” or how “collective” is the system -what are the basic principles involved, how important is “truth”, “justice”, “equality”, “tradition”, “authority”, “face-saving”, etc… can all be seen as decisions with no rational basis for the choice. Therefore -they could be seen as expressions of the local cultural “aesthetic.” Indeed, the very material that artists are supposed to be involved in exploring.

Presumably, it would be of great value to us all if artists stopped supporting the international art market in its destruction of local culture via the commodification of cultural artifacts and concepts -but instead used their skills to explore the practical consequences of the various social aesthetics. Such a programme would present individuals (and groups) around the world with the range of choice it needs in order to have a genuine democratic choice.

c. Choice and Mental Health:

Released from the constraints imposed by the false economics of a pseudo free-market system, it would become clearer that many people are creative not simply because of the money -but because of the deeper need to solve some practical (or perhaps even theoretical) problem within themselves or their (local) society.

A rising incidence of stress and mental illness in the (western) world might also suggest another important reason for being creative: Simply because it is an essential condition for mental health. Research is increasingly revealing that the main cause of stress is a feeling of lack of control with regard to pressing problems facing the individual. Despite the myth of “consumer choice” -modern society simply does not provide a system of real choice.

Behaviour patterns and a way of life based on commercially distributed belief systems are being increasingly forced upon us economically, politically and socially by powerful, invisible and uncontrollable international interests. These forces are not only outside our conscious control -the actual practices are also often fundamentally contrary to the social and political theories seemingly propagated by these forces. We are told to express ourselves -but we are economically, socially and sometimes even physically punished if we do so in ways that are outside the fine limits laid down (invisibly and hypocritically) by a social-commercial-political system which is increasingly smothering us in inescapable ways within its unspoken value system. This is presumably the main source of stress -but if this was to be publicly admitted then it would also be a public admission of the failure of a dishonest global system.

Perhaps we are already facing a global “Catch 22? situation: Living with the current lack of real choice within modern global culture probably drives a person mad -however, this madness is probably what allows us to accept the insanity of it all.

So the truly fundamental question might well be: Can a global system run by, and for, mentally ill people still survive -and will the commodification of Intellectual Property Rights solve the situation?

Probably not -one might answer…. but what difference does it make: The regeneration of a viable, intelligent and healthy social-cultural-economic system is hardly likely under the present commercial regime.

Trevor Batten
June 30 2007

Been writing in my aches and pains diary, actually a planner-calendar, which I keep so as to figure out what’s causing the pains.

For several days now I have been in physical pain - starting with chest pains that I associated a few years ago, perhaps 2002, with heartburn caused by an allergy to multi-vitamin tablets (with added iron) formulated especially for pregnant women. The pain then was incredible, flowing from my chest to my left arm, lasting well over a week after I stopped taking the vitamins. At least then I suspected the pain was caused by the vitamin tablets.

The pains returned when I was in Amsterdam in 2005 - and they were awful pains. I suspected they were caused by food allergy, in particular, from the rusty metal/enamel pans that we were using for cooking. But I am never sure of this … I have gone to a doctor, had x-rays and heart tests, etc. Nothing.

Since 2005, the pains come back at least once a month at times more, lasting about 5-7 days, accompanied by burping or the feeling of burping, numbness of my fingers and slight pulling pain in my ankles. All these made me sometimes wish that I was dead. Right now my head feels like it is about to fall off my neck, as if my shoulders are carrying this horrible head around too long!

Because doctors found nothing I could only associate the pain now with chronic stress, triggered by stomach destabilization, for example, not eating enough or on time). The pain also seemed to be aggravated by inactivity (when I am resting, sleeping, sitting). Although it was raining a bit, my partner and I went out yesterday to play catch ball, it was fun and the pain went away for a while. I tire very easily but it is nice to have fun and some exercise.

Luckily, I am also still able to continue my crochet work - although very slowly. My blue crochet layer dress is now a skirt! Since I’ve given up on using the sheer dress layer (it was so hard creating a structure for that), I decided to work a skirt with it instead - now in gray and purple. Structurally, it is rather complex, and I hope to finish it soon so that I can begin the tedious beadwork (I plan to sew glass beads and sequins on it!)

Had lunch today with family and relatives, c/o Auntie Pin who treated everyone at Max’s at Quezon Memorial Circle, QMC Park. I’ve been to the QMC park a few times earlier, and it’s a pretty good park, a project of former Quezon City vice-mayor Charito Planas. The QMC park boasts of being “self-reliant”, that is, sustaining itself without funding from local government. A very nice addition to the park that I saw was the Butterfly House (small, but people who run it seem to have a real passion for it) and the AANI Herbal Garden.

Lunch was okay and was the opportunity to meet a cousin and her family who arrived some two weeks ago from the US. They’re here to look into possibilities of importing their real estate business and to check out places for retirement. Since I haven’t seen them in 7 or 8 years, I was expecting to have a really wonderful time at the thought of a sort of “reunion.” Of course that didn’t really happen and what took place was simply the usual social rituals that we had with relatives. Well it was nice to see a couple of my aunties who also wanted to check out the ballroom dancing section of the park (the chief instructress was this 78-year old woman!!)

Anyway, being with relatives and cousins reminded me of why, as a young teenager, I never really enjoyed family reunions - there wasn’t really anybody to talk to. I simply could not relate to talk about business, money, careers, competition, success and numerous other things that came to me as sadly pretentious. In fact, what I do remember now was the feeling of dread that I had whenever there was a family reunion, the dreadful feeling of being pushed into the rat race.

My partner nearly got agitated again while talking to my cousin’s husband who is Filipino-American and was in the real estate business. While my partner and I shared the same values, he is more likely to speak out and assert his views whereas I am quite content with just being quiet, until, of course, something pokes at me.

Well, although lunch was a bit flat (except for a few nice things like seeing Ella, a few aunties, my 86-year old uncle), the afternoon walk around the QMC Park afterwards was really wonderful.

My partner and I first went to see the Butterfly House. Looking after the place was this rather chubby woman. She was mounting some butterflies and was happy to get a dead butterfly that we saw in the garden. She seemed very enthusiastic about her work. There was also a small butterfly museum, a piano, and some gold fish, a Japanese carp and a local variety of piranha the type that got no teeth!

Below is a photo of myself with Edward in the butterfly garden.

Below is a photo of my partner inspecting a black and white butterfly flying about.

Below are photos of butterflies, with the third photo showing an orange colored butterfly fluttering its wings near the flower of the lantana plant.

When we got out of the Butterfly House, we saw a cat with two kittens.

Walking around, our next destination was the herbal / garden / agriculture section of the park. On the way we passed by the Quezon Memorial Museum. I( had the feeling the museum had become smaller and that the “armory” was no longer there. It also did not provide a more objective (and much more socially useful) view of the complexities of the American colonial period.

Anyway, the herbal section of the park was really wonderful. We had coffee and sweet mango juice at the Kape Kalinga (my partner was so shocked that coffee cost only PHP10 a cup), then looked around. The bamboo huts that housed the various cafes, shops and learning centers were really nice. It was such a great sight as my partner and I thought about vernacular architecture and the possibilities we could do.

Then we passed by a hut that was doing work with mushrooms, and the fellow who ran the place asked us in. Ven Abalos managed a farmers multi-purpose cooperative in Pangasinan, and had a national radio program. It was fascinating talking to him, I was especially happy since my dad ran a cooperative (transport sector) before he died and so I was a bit familiar with cooperative work.

Ven had the vision of alternative livelihood and source of income for so many unemployed Filipinos through mushroom cultivation. He showed us a dark room in the hut where he grew the mushrooms - oyster mushrooms and gaderma mushrooms. I expected the room to be stuffy, and mouldy - but it wasn’t! Then Ven said that mushrooms was the future for the Filipino people. Funnily enough, I had the image in my mind of the aftermath of a nuclear war or a total collapse of the ozone layer, and all that could grow as food were mushrooms!

What a wonderful afternoon, especially my partner enjoyed talking to Ven. We also bought half a kilo of oyster mushrooms (they cost about PHP300 per kilo), and promised to come back.

We passed by a few other agri shops - bought some noodles made from pechay.

So, when we got home, dinner was crispy pechay noodles with shrimp, kangkong and mushroom sauce. I was afraid that I’d make a disaster of it but it was very good. The fresh mushrooms were very different from the ones bought in the supermarket or those in tins.

I’m so glad we went to QMC Park and that we stayed around. Auntie Eppie told me that my cousin’s little daughter would’ve wanted to go to the Butterfly House but the family had other gatherings to attend. When I told my partner about it he looked rather sad…

Well, we will surely be back to the QMC Park, especially now that there seem to be lots of more interesting things going on there.

But for some people, the Quezon Memorial Circle Park is utterly lacking in grandeur especially in our now so-called high-tech age. See these comments about the park. I truly truly hope that Planas and the people behind the Park do not submit to ways of thinking such as those …

Woke up early today, looked out the window and saw our apartment’s ocassional visiting mangy orange cat on the neighbor’s tin roof.

Well at least now I know that it’s male.

I remember when we first came in this apartment a year ago seeing this orange cat on the same roof - it looked so much bigger then. Also, since the people upstairs had a new house maid, the cat hasn’t been basking on this roof because things kept dropping from the upper floor. The roof has since been riddled with several floor mats, cleaning rags, beef and pork soup bones, and dog shit. I suppose the cat wouldn’t mind the soup bones or the mats but the dog shit is just too much! Anyway, the roof is a bit cleaner now since the rain and wind, and there seem to be less dropping objects (maybe the folks downstairs complained).

A new discovery, by the way, is Maria and her waterbed.

Being horribly lazy!

To celebrate a month AFTER my partner’s birthday, we decided to go to the university and eat at our favorite Cititop/Khas Foodhaus, meet with a friend from the old BBS days (I haven’t seen her in probably 7 years!), check out the model houses constructed by the UP Building Research Service, and most importantly, see Oscar Delas Alas, PAGASA’s own astronomy pioneer, who will soon be retiring from the PAGASA observatory also based on campus.

The last time I saw Oscar was probably summer evening of 2003, after he suffered a stroke and was recuperating. He was outside the PAGASA building with the telescope. When we went there last week, I was quite shocked to see that he seemed to have gotten worse; now using a cane to walk and had a bit of difficulty speaking. Nevertheless, my partner and I had a long discussion with him about space and time and such things. And while we were on the topic of “objective reality”, one of the striking things that Oscar said was that “observations are propositions made by scientists based on their own intuitions.”

(Photos below). With Ruben, who guides visitors on the stargazing program of PAGASA. The first two photos are taken on the roof of the small PAGASA building where the old telescope is installed and is still being used for observing sunspots. On the roof, Ruben showed us how to locate both the north star and the southern cross. The third photo below is taken on the ground just in front of the PAGASA building. It shows Ruben adjusting the telescope which is used to view the planets. Through this telescope, we got a glimpse of three planets, Venus, Saturn and Jupiter. I guess we were lucky to see all three in one evening. It was a bit hard to see the stars, though, because of the city’s light pollution (this pollution is very visible on the first two photographs). In the countryside where there is no light pollution, stargazing is very different - when you look up to the evening sky the stars set against the darkness look as if the sky is a low dome with the stars about to fall upon your head!

I just texted an ex-colleague at the university asking for Dr. Honrado “Hony” Fernandez’s cellphone number. My ex-colleague texted back that Hony died two years ago, April 26, 2005. He died of a heart attack, he was only 57 years old. I was shocked. I didn’t know - I was in Holland at that time. Anyway, my partner and I were meaning to get in touch with Hony, who was my teacher in Industrial Design way back 1987/88, to get some advise on vernacular architecture. Hony was one of very few teachers I had at university who had a very strong philosophy of the vernacular, of indigeneity, of the relationship between construction and material culture and the living environment in design and architecture. I suppose Hony was one of very few teachers I had at university who had a very strong philosophy of anything! My God, how horrible it is that he is gone, he was too young …

We seem to be living in a world that kills the most intelligent and socially sensitive people, whilst rewarding those who are the most aggressive, exploitative, and parasitic. Surely, those last three are the most capable of surviving this world greedily indulged in influence, prestige, power.

I thought of Oscar and his work on variable stars. His remark about scientists made me think that he is probably one of those few who have little interest in wielding power and authority through science, but rather admit more to a devotion towards knowledge and its limits. If astronomy is his life then I truly hope he doesn’t “retire.”

According to data obtained by Inquirer.net from the Commission on Filipinos Overseas, more Filipinos, especially women, have married foreigners in the last three years. (See news article)

Last year, 24,904 Filipinos married foreigners, up 18 percent from the previous year’s 21,100. The 2005 figure is an 11.4 percent increase from the 2004 figure of 18,933.

I suppose this is data taken of Filipinos marrying foreign nationals with the intent of settling overseas, since figures were taken from those who were applying for fiance and spouse passports. They were also required to undergo counseling.

Surely, there are more inter-cultural marriages and partnerships now. I remember a few friends whose relationships were initiated through working overseas (as well as foreign workers coming into the Philippines), through the slow pace of postal penpals, and recently, the speedier Internet (whether e-mail, chat, web forums or other).

I am the result of an inter-cultural marriage, actually, since my father is Bicolano and my mother is Iolcano. Apart from speaking obviously different languages, they have distinctly different cultural traits. From their respective regions, Manila became the central melting pot, providing the opportunity for my parents’ common pursuit of education.

My brother and sister are also in inter-cultural relationships: my sister married a man from Batangas (they met at work) and my brother married a woman from Romblon (they met at school). In these cases, Manila also was the central melting pot.

Among my paternal and maternal first degree cousins, there are at least two who have married foreign nationals - Canadian and Arab, if I am not mistaken. Both are the result of the pursuit of better paying employment outside the Philippines (Canada and the Middle East). One, however, is marriage with a Filipino-American, with rather different circumstance: not really because of overseas employment but because of plain old fashioned love. After over 10 years in the US, they now also intend to return to the Philippines with their two kids and re-settle here.

As for myself, it is quite true that I am one of those new batch of people finding their partners through the Internet. It can sound horribly disgusting especially with all the Internet scams. When I applied for a visitor visa at the Dutch Embassy in Manila with my partner’s letter stating support of my stay in Holland, the visa officer asked where I met this person. I replied “Switzerland.”

Of course, that was true. Although at that moment I grappled between “meeting” in the physical or virtual sense. I could’ve said “Internet” which came first before Switzerland.

However, my partner and I first got acquainted not through a social Internet service but rather through an email argument about virtual reality and language (although of course, one can also call that a “social Internet service” - or more accurately, an “anti-social Internet service”).

Here in Quezon City, it is obvious that more Filipinos are marrying foreigners; a visit to the mall or supermarket we often encounter at least one couple, usually a Filipina with a caucasian husband. Talking with the sales ladies at the mall I often get questions like, “where did you get that man?” and “can you ask him to bring someone for me too?”

The primary motivation for relationships are obviously economics. Why marry a man who’s as poor as a rat as you are? Of course, for ages, marriage has often been an economic union and a business contract not only between partners but between families, clans, villages, kingdoms and nations. But if one has reasonable comfort in life and no pressure from family or clan, then there is at least more freedom to marry for love and other such stupid reasons.

Just last night, a friend sent an email joke (see below) about “The Liberated Pinay at a Women’s Lib International Conference.” The punchline was, among the English and Russian wives, it was the Filipina wife who gets beaten up by her husband when she insists on being liberated. I told my friend, this must be the reason why I ‘married’ an Englishman - the wonderful roast lamb!

Of course domestic violence is a problem that cuts across nationalities, cultures, economic status. Fortunately, my father was a real gentleman and so is my partner (and yes, makes wonderful roast lamb . However, very few people seem to talk about husbands who are being beaten up by their wives, and a few also talk about domestic violence as more complex than simply the wife as victim of the violence.

The only domestic violence that I know of personally are three cases, one of the typical case of the wife being beaten up by the husband and the other two of the husbands being beaten up by their wives. In the latter case, the husband was being beaten up by the wife AND their teenage daughter. In both cases, the husbands were unemployed, had a drinking and or drug/gambling problem; in one case the family was supported by the woman’s parents and in the other case, the family breadwinner was the wife.

Evidently, support must be given to both the husband and the wife within any form of domestic violence. I wish that could be done with the Ruffa and Yilmaz issue, which is a celebrity inter-cultural/inter-religious relationship, and is very very public - and the public deserves deeper discussion of the complex issues rather than simple lurid gossip, especially as the Filipino public become sees more inter-marriages as a reality rather than a celebrity fantasy.

Anyway, the joke below must have some unfortunate truth in it (as all jokes often do). When a female friend came to our apartment and saw my partner washing the dishes, she asked me in disbelief, “you could make him do that?”

Of course I did not “make him do that”, it just seemed the natural thing to do as a couple (which was why I was quite surprised by my friend’s question just as she was surprised to see my partner doing the dishes) - to share in all the responsbilities at home.

I don’t know if this is partly why I have a foreign partner: because there is no Filipino male (around me at least) who could instinctively respond to what I felt was “natural.” (Perhaps same sex partnerships within the heterosexual norm can relate to what I mean by this). Surely my partner and I had very difficult times where we both transgressed each other emotionally and intellectually, a very complex problem now hopefully transcended, but we never crossed the line of violence. I have grown to not need or want a lot of things - material and emotional - and a violent relationship is one of them. As more Filipinos marry foreigners, I hope that the differences inherent in such unions provide the opportunity to openly discuss rather than reinforce the taboos glossed over by the calls for “liberation.”

The Liberated Pinay
Women’s Lib International Conference

The first speaker, a lady from England stood up and said, “During last year’s conference, we spoke about being more assertive with our husbands.

Well, after the conference, I went home and told my husband, Barrington, that I would no longer cook for him and that he would have to do it himself.

After the first day, I saw nothing. The second day, I saw nothing, but on the third day, I saw that he had cooked a wonderful roast Lamb.” (The crowd cheered).

The second speaker from Russia, stood up and said,”After last year’s conference, I went home and told my husband, Ivan, that I would no longer do his laundry and that he would have to do it himself. The first day, I saw nothing. After the second day, I saw nothing, but on the third day, I saw that he had done not only his own washing, but mine as well.

(The crowd again cheered).

The third speaker, a Filipino lady from Visayas, stood up and said, “Aftir lass year’s kampirince, I win hum(went home) and tuld dat lazy husband op mines, Pidro, dat I was tro getting his slippers, kuking his meals ol da tyme, washing his undirwir and dat he was guing to hab to do dem himsilf.”

(The crowd went wild with cheering and clapping that lasted for five long minutes).

She continued,”Aftir da first day, I see nating. Aftir da secun day, agin I see nating, but aftir da tird day, I could see a little bit out of my lif eye.”

Two Birthdays

What a wonderful birthday celebration my auntie had last Friday - her 75th birthday, and next year will be celebrating 50-year wedding anniversary. How blessed and fortunate they are, as one of her old school friends said, that they are still healthy and can enjoy life so much.

I thought about that - 50 long years together. My uncle is the complete opposite; while my auntie is affectionate, warm, ostentatious and a typical Kapampangan (although her family are actually migrants from Tuguegarao), my uncle is stiff upper lip, cold, tightwad and a typical Ilokano.

Most surprising that night, though, was how well my partner could actually dance! When live ballroom music started playing, first with the waltz and then onto the faster tempos, he asked to dance. I thought it was funny, that he might hurt everyone or disrupt the dancing (which he did when we were trying to do an indigenous dance in Taiwan). But what a surprise! My partner could dance!

Still funny, though, and I couldn’t stop laughing while we were dancing.

Anyway, it was a wonderful evening, and my auntie was so happy - and so happy to see that I was there with my partner. My family was there too, and some of them were quite surprised to see my partner, although my mother already knew he would be there. What was most heartwarming was how my mother greeted him and touched his arm to say good-bye when the party ended…

Strange how so much easier it is to be happy when your family - those who share your very existence and identity - are also happy. Sometimes this “identity-sharing” is seen negatively especially within the context of individualism and independence that is prevalent in western culture, but “identity-sharing” constitutes a wider sense, a network, of balance that is most strong and most needed within our difficult and uncertain times.

It was 1PM when I woke up Saturday and Alwin’s birthday party starts at 1PM! I nearly panicked - quickly got dressed, drank coffee (after spilling a whole cup!), made another Edward and Maria birthday card to go with the birthday gift, and zoomed off to the venue. When I got there the program had started and some guy in a yellow reptile costume was organizing the kids over dozens of games where nearly everyone got prizes. When Alwin saw me he was so happy and asked “where’s Trevor!” Still sleeping, I told him!

Actually, the birthday card I gave him has a drawing of Edward still asleep, horribly late for Alwin’s party.

What a wonderful birthday celebration - Alwin’s cousins, schoolmates and friends were all there - and they all got prizes, souvenirs, caricatures, face paintings and picture with Dino the Dinosaur (they had a special guest, a big green dinosaur called “Dino”.) When DIno finished his dance number, Alwin and his dad thought they’d follow the dino to find out who’s inside the green costume. So they followed but the dinosaur went into the ladies room.

After eating, the magic show started - it was the same guy in the yellow reptile suit but this time he was wearing a magician’s costume. Actually, he was very good and really very funny. Everyone - the kids and even the adults, had a wonderful time. It was really very funny when the magician, while he was doing the colored handkerchief routine, accidentally dropped his dentures to the floor!

Alwin’s really lucky to have such a party on his 7th birthday (the 1st and 7th are cutomarily celebrated, and girls would celebrate their 18th as well). I’ve never had such a birthday celebration, although few of my richer cousins did. Certainly my dad’s family never could even imagine such a birthday celebration. However, the general idea remains - just try to feed as many people as you can.

Back to school

Anyway, it is back to school for many kids this June (also the start of the rainy season, a pretty good start for schoolyear! ) - at least for those kids with families that could afford it. Even free public education is not so “free” at all especially with all the miscellaneous fees that one has to pay. And education remains in a deplorable state in the country despite the government statement that the Department of Education gets the largest share of the national budget among the various government agencies (of course, the largest part of the budget goes to foreign debt servicing at 40%). With the education budget at 14.7% (see budget and taxes breakdown), a look at the proposed 2006 General Appropriations Act would show that state colleges and universities – numbering hundreds all over the country – are to get less than half of the budgetary allotments for two major military educational institutions, the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) and the National Defense College of the Philippines (NDCP). (See Bulatlat report).
And now, the government is going into debt again to launch its Cyber Education Project. It’s going to cost 26-billion pesos. According to the Inquirer editorial, the original cost of the project was 5-billion pesos under a BOT (Build-Operate-Transfer scheme). Six months later, the project cost ballooned to 26-billion pesos after Pres. Arroyo signed an agreement with China for the BOT scheme (the government gets a $465.5-million soft loan from Tsinghua Tongfang Nuctech to fund almost the entire Cyber Education Project, and the remaining cost, some P3.7 billion, will be shouldered by the Philippine government).

According to the Department of Education, public schools are in decrepit conditions: Some 80 percent of public schools have no running water, 60 percent have no toilets, 40 percent have no ceilings and 50 percent have no electricity. (See news article)

In the meantime, the ambitious Cyber Education Project aims for a “digital legacy” by DepEd head Jesli Lapus, so that disadvantaged students nationwide might have access to an alternative learning platform.

As far as I can see, with the most basic of problems with public schools described above, the Cyber Education project is bound to become a miserable failure in terms of improving education in the country. But such a project is conceived and pursued precisely because it offers the greatest in terms of kick-backs to the politicians and business people involved - with 26-billion pesos, there aught to be enough to keep the corruption going.

The idea of ICT for education is absolutely obscene when we can’t even put a ceiling or install electricity in our classrooms, and certainly disgusting to believe that building such an infrastracture “…will allow interactivity between and among the learners and teachers. It will allow the learners to deal with interesting and high quality lessons and to become well motivated and receptive to ideas presented through television and other multi-media instructions.”

Sometimes I wonder why I am still in this godforsaken country. Sometimes I wish that I was 75 years old or older so I need not worry and fret so much about these things, so I can sign-off before the whole world collapses in the weight of its own disgusting greed.